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Novel Te azides: Chemistry with a bang Two research groups have independently prepared and characterized several novel tellurium azides, Te(N3)n--which are reported in back-to-back papers in Angewandte Chemie International Edition [42, 5843 and 5847 (2003)]. The compounds add to a large class of highly energetic inorganic azides, which tend to explosively decompose by forming N2. In the first paper, chemistry professor Thomas M. Klapötke and coworkers of the University of Munich, in Germany, report the reaction of TeF4 with (CH3)3SiN3 to prepare Te(N3)4 and the reaction of [(CH3)4N][TeF5] with (CH3)3SiN3 to form the more stable salt [(CH3)4N][Te(N3)5]. The crystal structure of the pyridinium salt shows that [Te(N3)5]– is a rare pentacoordinate azido species, the only other known example being [Fe(N3)5]2–. In the second paper, chemistry professor Karl O. Christe, research associate Ralf Haiges, and coworkers at the University of Southern California and the Air Force Research Lab at Edwards Air Force Base report the reaction of TeF6 with (CH3)3SiN3 to prepare Te(N3)4. They subsequently prepared [(CH3)4N][Te(N3)5] and [P(C6H5)4]2[Te(N3)6], obtaining the crystal structure for both anions ([Te(N3)6]2– shown]. While neither the toxicity nor the low stability will allow these compounds to be used in explosives or propellants, Klapötke tells C&EN, they are still "beautiful examples of novel compounds in terms of structure and bonding." |
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